Historically, telecommunications have involved the transmission of voice and fax signals over a network dedicated to telecommunications, such as the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) and a Private Branch Exchange (PBX). Similarly, data communications between computers have been historically transmitted on a dedicated data network, such a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN). Currently telecommunications and data transmissions are being merged into an integrated communication network using technology such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Since many LANs and WANs transmit computer data using Intranet Protocol (IP), VoIP uses this existing technology to transmit voice and fax signals by converting these signals into digital data and encapsulating the data for transmission over an IP network.
Traditional communication networks often support multipoint conferences between a number of participants using different communication devices. A multipoint conference unit (MCU) is used to couple these devices, which allows users from distributed geographic locations to participate in the conference. The conference may be audio only (e.g., a teleconference) or may include video conferencing/broadcasting.
Conference systems utilize various resources when hosting a conference. Such resources may be reserved in advance of the conference. As a result, numerous algorithms and systems have been developed to facilitate more flexible reservation systems of conference resources. For example, some systems include methods for reserving network bandwidth that would be required for conducting a VoIP conference. Some systems include methods for reclaiming and recycling conference ports of users who leave a given conference. In addition, some systems include methods for finding and booking conference rooms (and/or other fixed resources). For example, users may have knowledge of available local conference resources, and scheduling systems may consult the location information of the scheduler (and/or invited participants) to match with the nearest available conference resource(s).
Current reservation systems, however, do not allow for the unified scheduling of individuals, conference rooms, and conference equipment. Furthermore, even when resources are reserved in advance, a great deal of effort and human involvement is required to power up and configure the resources at the start of the conference.